TopNews

New Program to Help Seattle Port Operators Upgrade to Cleaner Trucks

The truck operators working at the Port of Seattle now have a program to help them upgrade their older polluting diesel trucks with newer models that significantly reduce harmful diesel pollutants coming from the exhaust.

As of December 31, 2010, no pre-1994 engine trucks will be allowed access to the Port of Seattle. The Seaport Truck Scrappage and Retrofits for Air in Puget Sound (ScRAPS) program offers an incentive to remove the pre-1994 engine trucks from service early and offers late-model trucks to replace them.

In the past three months, 59 truck owners have turned in their old trucks for a $5,000 scrap credit. According to Kathy Boucher, the Cascade Sierra Solutions Branch Manager in Seattle, about 85 percent of the trucks have been or are being replaced with a newer truck. Older trucks create as much as 100 times more air pollution than modern trucks.

ADVERTISEMENT

ScRAPS is administered by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (PSCAA) and receives funding through the Washington Department of Ecology, the Port of Seattle, the City of Tacoma, and the PSCAA. Cascade Sierra Solutions is coordinating the truck scrapping from the Green Truck Center located at 200 SW Michigan St. in Seattle.

The ScRAPS program was created in support of the Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy for the region. Goals of the clean air strategy include reducing maritime and port-related air quality impacts, reducing contributions to climate change, and improving air quality in the Georgia Basin - Puget Sound airshed.